Miami Hurricanes Leaving the Orange Bowl

dargan · Aug 21, 2007

Armchair_QB said:

I made one trip to the Orange Bowl for a Miami game back in 2000. They were playing, oddly enough, Michael Vick and Virginia Tech. Vick wound up not playing due to an ankle injury and Miami won fairly easily.

That was the day Gameday did their morning show there then flew up to Tallahassee and did the evening show outside Doak Campbell before the first Bowden Bowl.

Everything Mandel wrote in his blog is true. The first thing I thought when I got off the elevator in the press box was "They played Super Bowls in this fucking dump?"

Much like the neighborhood around it, the place really had a hostile, rundown vibe to it if you were a visitor and that may have been the angriest college football crowd I've ever seen. I talked to one of the Gameday producers during a break and he called it the ugliest crowd they'd ever had up to that point. People we actually lobbing empty beer bottles at the stage.

They'll have a tough time replicating that at Joe Rob-, er, Dolphin Stadium.
Click to expand...

From what I've heard Dolphin Stadium isn't exactly in the best of neighborhoods.

Armchair_QB · Aug 21, 2007

dargan said:

Armchair_QB said:

I made one trip to the Orange Bowl for a Miami game back in 2000. They were playing, oddly enough, Michael Vick and Virginia Tech. Vick wound up not playing due to an ankle injury and Miami won fairly easily.

That was the day Gameday did their morning show there then flew up to Tallahassee and did the evening show outside Doak Campbell before the first Bowden Bowl.

Everything Mandel wrote in his blog is true. The first thing I thought when I got off the elevator in the press box was "They played Super Bowls in this fucking dump?"

Much like the neighborhood around it, the place really had a hostile, rundown vibe to it if you were a visitor and that may have been the angriest college football crowd I've ever seen. I talked to one of the Gameday producers during a break and he called it the ugliest crowd they'd ever had up to that point. People we actually lobbing empty beer bottles at the stage.

They'll have a tough time replicating that at Joe Rob-, er, Dolphin Stadium.
Click to expand...

From what I've heard Dolphin Stadium isn't exactly in the best of neighborhoods.
Click to expand...

Miami Gardens isn't exactly South Beach but Dolphin Stadium is surrounded by nothing but parking lots as far as the eye can see. The Orange Bowl was woven into the fabric of Little Havana.

Dallas-area SportsJournalists.commers will appreciate this. Denne Freeman used to say that the neighborhood around the Orange Bowl made Fair Park look like Highland Park.

dargan · Aug 21, 2007

Armchair_QB said:

dargan said:

Armchair_QB said:

I made one trip to the Orange Bowl for a Miami game back in 2000. They were playing, oddly enough, Michael Vick and Virginia Tech. Vick wound up not playing due to an ankle injury and Miami won fairly easily.

That was the day Gameday did their morning show there then flew up to Tallahassee and did the evening show outside Doak Campbell before the first Bowden Bowl.

Everything Mandel wrote in his blog is true. The first thing I thought when I got off the elevator in the press box was "They played Super Bowls in this fucking dump?"

Much like the neighborhood around it, the place really had a hostile, rundown vibe to it if you were a visitor and that may have been the angriest college football crowd I've ever seen. I talked to one of the Gameday producers during a break and he called it the ugliest crowd they'd ever had up to that point. People we actually lobbing empty beer bottles at the stage.

They'll have a tough time replicating that at Joe Rob-, er, Dolphin Stadium.
Click to expand...

From what I've heard Dolphin Stadium isn't exactly in the best of neighborhoods.
Click to expand...

Miami Gardens isn't exactly South Beach but Dolphin Stadium is surrounded by nothing but parking lots as far as the eye can see. The Orange Bowl was woven into the fabric of Little Havana.

Dallas-area SportsJournalists.commers will appreciate this. Denne Freeman used to say that the neighborhood around the Orange Bowl made Fair Park look like Highland Park.
Click to expand...

Wow. That bad huh?

Bubbler · Aug 21, 2007

Armchair_QB said:

dargan said:

Armchair_QB said:

I made one trip to the Orange Bowl for a Miami game back in 2000. They were playing, oddly enough, Michael Vick and Virginia Tech. Vick wound up not playing due to an ankle injury and Miami won fairly easily.

That was the day Gameday did their morning show there then flew up to Tallahassee and did the evening show outside Doak Campbell before the first Bowden Bowl.

Everything Mandel wrote in his blog is true. The first thing I thought when I got off the elevator in the press box was "They played Super Bowls in this fucking dump?"

Much like the neighborhood around it, the place really had a hostile, rundown vibe to it if you were a visitor and that may have been the angriest college football crowd I've ever seen. I talked to one of the Gameday producers during a break and he called it the ugliest crowd they'd ever had up to that point. People we actually lobbing empty beer bottles at the stage.

They'll have a tough time replicating that at Joe Rob-, er, Dolphin Stadium.
Click to expand...

From what I've heard Dolphin Stadium isn't exactly in the best of neighborhoods.
Click to expand...

Miami Gardens isn't exactly South Beach but Dolphin Stadium is surrounded by nothing but parking lots as far as the eye can see. The Orange Bowl was woven into the fabric of Little Havana.

Dallas-area SportsJournalists.commers will appreciate this. Denne Freeman used to say that the neighborhood around the Orange Bowl made Fair Park look like Highland Park.
Click to expand...

True that. The neighborhood around the Orange Bowl is pretty bad. Of course it was built in the 1930s, so that stands to reason.

Miami has the biggest contrast of destitute poverty and obscene opulence I've ever seen. I was all over the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area during Super Bowl week and I'm not sure I ever saw a middle class neighborhood, though I'm sure they're around somewhere.

hondo · Aug 21, 2007

The neighborhood around the Orange Bowl is not nearly as bad as some people depict. It's a working-class Cuban/Hispanic neighborhood. I've covered dozens of UM games and Orange Bowls there in the past and never feared for my life.

Sam Mills 51 · Aug 21, 2007

Is the area around the Orange Bowl as bad as the similar area near Legion Field in Birmingham? The latter wasn't any great shakes.

Webster · Aug 21, 2007

hondo said:

The neighborhood around the Orange Bowl is not nearly as bad as some people depict. It's a working-class Cuban/Hispanic neighborhood. I've covered dozens of UM games and Orange Bowls there in the past and never feared for my life.
Click to expand...

It's not Pinecrest or anything, but the area around the OB is solidly lower middle class. Trust me, Liberty City, Overtown or even the western part of the Grove are 10 times worse.

BigRed · Aug 21, 2007

Sam Mills 51 said:

Is the area around the Orange Bowl as bad as the similar area near Legion Field in Birmingham? The latter wasn't any great shakes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Legion Field is not in the nicest part of town. I remember going to a game there once as a fan.... parking on the street was free, except for the African-Americans who hung out and jumped on the back of your trunk to show you "where to park."
You paid them $10 just to park on the street - and everybody paid, because God knows what would happen to your car if you didn't.

Speedway · Aug 21, 2007

hondo said:

The neighborhood around the Orange Bowl is not nearly as bad as some people depict. It's a working-class Cuban/Hispanic neighborhood. I've covered dozens of UM games and Orange Bowls there in the past and never feared for my life.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I actually enjoyed the uniqueness of the neighborhood near the OB. If you are talking Miami, the area (Overtown) around the Miami Arena (the original home for the Heat and Panthers) was much more of an issue for visitors.

Simon_Cowbell · Aug 21, 2007

Armchair_QB said:

I heard a Miami radio guy a few minutes ago on the air and he made the point that the bulk of UM's fan base and recruiting territory is actually in Broward and north and west Dade County. He thinks the move might actually help attendance.

Not sure I agree with that though. Miami's not a sports town. It's an event town. People will still turn out for "big" games but, like you said, games against Duke, BC, FAMU, The Citadel, etc. will draw flies.

Also thought it was interesting that the city might tear down the Orange Bowl to clear the way for a new park for the Marlins.
Click to expand...

UM started sucking when they started heavily recruiting Broward.

Simon_Cowbell · Aug 21, 2007

Without qualification, the site of the greatest collection of football moments of any venue.

ondeadline · Aug 21, 2007

So which major college program plays the farthest away from their campus? It's got to be either Miami beginning in 2008 or UCLA. Dolphin Stadium is not close at all to Miami's campus.

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Miami Hurricanes Leaving the Orange Bowl

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Miami Hurricanes Leaving the Orange Bowl

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